Child porn case brings 30-year prison sentence

PITTSFIELD – A registered sexual predator has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges in Pike County.

Richard R. Rife, 32, pleaded guilty to two counts of child pornography. He was sentenced to an aggregate 30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections followed by three years to life of mandatory supervised release, according to State’s Attorney Zack Boren.

As part of the plea, Rife also received concurrent sentences of five years for providing false information and eight years for failing to register or report a change of address.

At the time of his arrest, Rife had reported a Kinderhook address, but he was living and working in Adams County, Boren said.

“We had a very strong case against Mr. Rife. I think this was an appropriate result,” Boren said Monday.

Rife pleaded guilty in 2012 to a child pornography charge in Adams County after nude photos of girls between 8 and 10 years old engaged in sexual acts were found on his cellphone. He acknowledged trading pornographic images with people, according to court documents.

The Pike County Sheriff’s Department was the lead investigative agency for Rife’s cases in Pike County. Sgt. Patrick Parker of the Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department, along with the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, assisted with forensic analysis of Rife’s mobile phone.

“All the law enforcement agencies involved did excellent work on this case from beginning to end,” Boren said. “Significant coordination is required to effectively prosecute cybercrimes like child pornography. Mr. Rife was a danger to our community, and thanks to the hard work of many law enforcement officers, he will not be in our community for a long time.”